Leader tapped to fix Memphis VA brings a checkered past with him

David Dunning is a Memphis native and two-time combat veteran who is the newest permanent director at the Memphis VA Medical Center.
Jake Lowary/USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center Director David Dunning, left, talks with the VA's chief engineer as work continues on a new front entrance to the hospital.(Photo: Jim Weber / The Commercial Appeal)

One of the top leaders at the Memphis VA hospital tapped to improve the troubled hospital failed to do that at another facility, where he was said to be a "bully" and among a "mafia-style" leadership team.

Frank Kehus, the associate director and chief operations officer, has the full confidence of new director David Dunning, but at his previous post in Marion, Ill. he was called a "bully" and a part of a "mafia" leadership team.

"Mr. Kehus' demonstrated performance at the Memphis VA reflects the highest level of professionalism and puts veterans first,” said David Dunning, new director of the hospital.

The accusations were made by other VA employees during interviews conducted by the VA's National Center for Patient Safety after that office received a "significant number of phone calls and emails" about the culture over a two-year period.

They became public in a May memo that was later released by Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois, who represents the area that includes the Marion VA.

Kehus was temporarily assigned to Memphis earlier this year as associate medical center director while also serving in the same position at Marion, a position he held for eight years at a time when the hospital culture was under review and patient care was under scrutiny.

He assumed the Memphis position permanently the same day the new permanent director, David Dunning, started. His 30-year career at the VA included one other stop in Memphis from 1988-2000.

Multiple people of those interviewed in February and after mentioned Kehus and other top officials at the Marion hospital by name, claiming they were "more interested in bonuses for themselves and 'blaming' the employees rather than supporting the mission."

Kehus was also accused of openly bullying other employees.

"It is unified bullying," one staff member said, according to the NCPS memo. "Right now people in management automatically support one another regardless of the actual circumstances that are taking place."

NCPS Program Manager Rodney Williams issued recommendations for improvement in the memo, and also noted in the memo that follow-up calls after a visit in November 2016 that "none of the concerns have (been) addressed since (my) visit."

Despite what Williams reported, Dunning said he is "proud" to have Kehus on his team.

"Since my arrival, I have assembled a strong and stable management team, including Mr. Kehus, and I have full confidence in my team’s leadership abilities," Dunning said in a statement.

Both Memphis and Marion are under close watch by VA Undersecretary of Health Poonam Allaigh, each among four poorly rated hospitals in the VA required to make weekly reports. The weekly exchanges and a history of poor care were recently detailed by the USA TODAY Network.

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About the Memphis VA Medical Center, which makes services available to about 190,000 veterans in three states, including western Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas.
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Memphis and Marion are both places where patients died waiting for care or shortly after receiving medical care, and have both been sites where whistleblowers say they were retaliated against for disclosing problems.

Williams noted that more than two dozen employees requested to be interviewed by NCPS in 2016 and 2017. In Memphis, Sean Higgins, who made more than three dozen disclosures over his three-year career at that facility, was fired earlier this year a day before President Donald Trump signed legislation protecting whistleblowers.

Kehus was in an interim position when Higgins was suspended for two weeks earlier this year, accused of using foul language to a supervisor. Kehus signed off on the suspension.

Higgins claims his termination was orchestrated, and based on reports that were unfounded or proven to be untrue. He has appealed his termination with the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent federal agency.

Jake Lowary covers veterans and military affairs for the USA Today Network. Reach him at 931-237-1583 or follow him on Twitter @JakeLowary.